Ask the Doctor

In this column, the leading specialist doctors answer your health and wellness queries. If you have a health question that needs an answer please email it to us at inkdoc@kashmirink.in

Q: I’m a 20-year-old girl from Srinagar using glasses for last 10 years. I want to get rid of the glasses. How and where?

Ans: Well, we have a wide range of treatment options available for you. Among the surgical options we have LASIK wherein a laser beam is used to reshape the cornea to correct the refractive error. Phakic IOL is employed for patients with high errors wherein a lens is implanted inside the eye over the normal crystalline lens. Refractive lens exchange is another option in which the natural lens is explanted and replaced by an intraocular lens of desired power. Intracornel rings being an additional surgical option for a few patients. Talking about the non surgical options, Orthokeratology is a novel method of using specialised contact lenses overnight to make the patient see clearly during the daytime without the need for an optical aid. Then we have a wide range of contact lenses to make you spectacle free. Considering factors like age, occupation, affordability, individual preferences and your suitability, the procedure is customised for you. You can visit us at SMHS Hospital Srinagar where a proper evaluation would be carried out to see what suits you so that you can walk spectacle free.

Dr Sajad Khanday

Associate Professor, Department

of Ophthalmology

SMHS Hospital, Srinagar

Q: I’m Hina, 25-year-old female intending to marry in the next few months. My TSH is 8.0. My obstetrician told me not to take any medications. Do I need to take any meds?

Ans: Dear Hina, we usually start thyroxine after TSH is more than 10. In your case TSH level should remain between 2.5 to 3. Please get your anti tpo antibodies also done. Start on levothyroxine 25 mcg daily and repeat your TSH after 6 weeks. Maternal TSH has a direct effect on baby’s IQ

Mohammad Hayat Bhat

MD, DM (Endocrinology) PGI

Lecturer, Department of Medicine, GMC Srinagar

Phone: 09419006364, 09419009166

Q: My father is 56-years-old and recently had complaints of gradually increasing yellowish discoloration of eyes for 15 days. Ultrasonography showed 12mm stone in bile duct with multiple stones in the gallbladder. What should we do as we are very much perturbed by his condition? (Mohd Idrees, Kulgam, Kashmir)

Ans: Your father seems to be suffering from obstructive jaundice due to common bile duct stone which has most probably migrated down from gallbladder. Further investigations are to be done which include all base line investigations, coagulogram and MRCP (Magnetic Resonance Cholangiopancreatography).

Management:

ERCP (Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography) with papillotomy/stenting followed by laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy with CBD exploration with primary biliary stenting. This has been found to safe, and cost effective in medical literature. Both these modalities are available in tertiary care hospitals (SMHS & SKIMS) and have yielded excellent results till date.

However, if the diameter of common bile duct is more than 1.5cm, your father will require a bypass surgery where the common bile duct is joined with either duodenum or jejunum for drainage of bile.

Note: It is advisable to contact a healthcare professional when a person notices yellowish discoloration of eyes, skin and urine and avoid consulting quacks.

Dr Iqbal Saleem Mir

Associate Professor, Head Unit 4, Postgraduate Department of Surgery

Govt Medical College, Srinagar

Q: My name is Shahid, I am an employee in health department. It seems I’m addicted to internet as I do not feel comfortable without using social networking sites even for a moment. Please help!

Ans: Problematic internet use is gradually being recognized as psychological issue requiring attention. Some measures are being developed to screen and identify excessive use. A person spending excessive time on Facebook or internet in general needs first to recognize the problem and then set limits about internet use and then strictly follow these limits, questioning oneself about consequence of continued use, trying internet-pack free periods of 1 to 2 days between mobile recharges, trying to engage in physical sports like football, cricket, volleyball etc, every day, socialising with family and friends, keeping phone in room while going to market to bring items needed, trying internet free weekends with friends, not making mobile phone your constant companion and remembering that people used to communicate with each other even in pre-internet and pre-mobile phone era.